“She was a sneaky bitch in her day,” Dusk raised an eyebrow at Layla with a grin. “None could master Nastya for ruthlessness and stealth. She’s ancient now, but she still has her ties. She never leaves her little kitties at home when she travels because she’s afraid someone might assassinate them to prove a point. And then she would have to prove a point back. She’s a formidable woman that most have forgotten – but not those who matter. She’s requested that you come pick her up at five p.m. for dinner Sunday night in the East Dining Hall, by the way.”
“Can do.” Layla grinned, crossing her arms casually as she watched Dusk. “So… what’s this all about? Setting me up to meet powerful people?”
Dusk lifted a dark eyebrow, but his blue eyes were honest as he answered. “I have sworn to protect you, Layla. So I am doing my best to help you make friends here. Strong friends.”
Layla blinked, suddenly understanding. “The Head Clothier. Nastya. Valdo. Some of the other guests I’ve met these past two weeks.”
“Rikyava. Reginald.” Dusk spoke pointedly. “Both Heads of their departments.”
“Ok, so you had something to do with Rikyava,” Layla spoke, “but not Reginald. Besides, he and I haven’t spoken three words since my welcome dinner. He just narrows his eyes at me when we pass in the halls and gives me a very cold,Hello, Layla.”
“Reginald has a stick so far up his ass he’d never embarrass himself to dance with a new hire on her first day.” Dusk settled back against the desk, giving Layla a knowing look. “The fact that he even says two words to you in the halls proves he’s watching you. I tormented you the night of your welcome ball so the Head Courtier would have to step in and defend you. I put you in his way, Layla – and if you can make an ally of him, there’s no one more powerful here at the Hotel, excepting Adrian. You’re welcome.”
Layla gaped at her boss. They had a break in the late-afternoon traffic, guests attending cocktail hour now, and she stared at Dusk as they both idled behind the desk. “How – did you plan all that?”
“Yes and no.” Dusk watched her from where he leaned on the desk, his summer-blue eyes intense. “I learn people’s strengths and weaknesses. Reginald is a stiff bastard, but he’s chivalrous to a fault – so I set him up to rescue you that night. Rikyava needs friends who are strong women, so I put you two together for a girl’s night. And you – you need a thoughtful bastard who can teach you about the Twilight Realm, who’ll be frank so you’ll listen. That’s me. That’s why I insisted on being your mentor in Concierge Services. It’s not just about helping you train your new magic. It’s so you can get the knowledge Adrian should have given you right from the first, and make the alliances he should have introduced you to. But he dumped you here, friendless and clueless, to flounder or fly. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive him for that.”
Layla was left amazed at Dusk’s cunning insight as his tirade ended. She knew he wasn’t wrong, finding herself wishing that Adrian had Dusk’s exceptional emotional intelligence. Like the obviousness of his dragon-scale ridges, Dusk was showing Layla his true nature and trusting her with the reality of the Twilight world. He wasn’t lying to her like Adrian, he was letting her learn and watching her think, those summer-blue eyes piercing as she absorbed the lesson. It made a swell of gratefulness blossom up inside Layla suddenly, and she was just about to say thanks – when the Royal Desert Dragon himself rounded the corner of the hall.
Adrian Rhakvir was beautiful. Layla stared at his effortless handsomeness as he approached the Concierge desk, strolling with his hands shoved casually in his pants-pockets and his sleeves rolled to his elbows, showing the coiling dragon tattoo on his left forearm. From the moment he rounded the corner, she knew he was there; even without looking she would have known. An animal attraction pulled between them, thick as if a physical cord bound them. Layla had pulled back from it after her fight with him out in the garden and his radio silence since, but it rebounded like a massive bungee cord now – pulling them tighter into their strangely-twined magics.
Adrian had a calm elegance and yet, a simmering fire and heat swirled in a mirage around him as he stepped to the desk, pinning Layla with his amazing oceanic eyes. A tendril of cinnamon and jasmine scent lured her from across the broad desk and Layla was suddenly stupid with attraction for him, flooded by her dreams these past two weeks of desert-scapes under the stars.
All of which had featured him.
“Layla.” Leaning upon one elbow at the desk, Adrian gave her a nod – though there were plenty of things roaring through his eyes that his casual welcome didn’t say.
“Adrian.” Layla kept her distance with her arms crossed, conflict searing through her from his sudden presence. She felt his draw so strongly – deep inside, her beast turned over with a delicious ache. She suddenly couldn’t get a full enough breath and she knew her face flushed as prickles of heat surged all across her skin.
Dusk, feeling the tension between them, turned to face Adrian with his most professional poise. “Can I help you with something, Adrian? What brings you to the main Concierge desk?”
“Actually, I came to speak with Layla. Privately.”
Dusk glanced from Adrian to Layla and saw her tight posture. After two weeks working together, Dusk was able to read her moods now, and Layla was just as readily picking up on his. Tension showed in the set of Dusk’s shoulders as his lips parted and he drew a breath – Layla knew he was tasting the waves of scorched orange-peel scent flooding from her. That same rise in scent had happened numerous times now, when Layla had gotten worked up as a guest tried to test her magically to find out what she was. It was her poker-tell, even when her magics were mostly being contained by her determination to not get pissed off, cramming all her heat and Dragon-fire back down beneath her hamsa-cuff so she could do her job.
But now, that spot on her wrist was burning with fury as Layla desperately tried to cram her ridiculous attraction to Adrian down inside her body and failed. A small smile quirked Dusk’s lips before he turned back to Adrian.
“Layla’s quite busy, Adrian. She won’t be off her shift until very late. I’m afraid whatever it is will have to wait.”
“Cut the shit, Dusk.” Adrian’s eyes heated, the gold in them bright as the blue deepened. Layla saw again the tense rivalry between the two adopted brothers, so much about them making sense to her now as they faced off with a prickling sensation. On the far side of the desk, Adrian stepped past Dusk so he could see Layla again. “Layla, can we talk?”
“I’m working.” Her tone was curt, even for her. She didn’t regret it as she stared him down. It had been two full weeks since their fight in the garden, and she’d not heard a damn thing from him in all that time. It was worth a little fury, especially since he’d been showing up in her dreams every night – still tormenting her magically in a way she couldn’t stop.
A group of guests approached the Concierge desk and Dusk glanced at them, then raised his brows at Layla. She sighed, then nodded for him to go take care of them. Stepping to Adrian, she motioned for him to follow her to the far side of the desk so they could have a semi-private conversation near the curve of the stairs.
“What do you want, Adrian?”
Adrian’s beautiful straight brows knit and his lips opened. For a moment, no words came from his mouth, he just stared at Layla with a woebegone look. She felt the wind of his magic swirl through the air with a heated cinnamon scent like Christmas potpourri being blowtorched. And then he mastered himself, drawing up tall on the other side of the broad desk. “I’d like to take you out to dinner, tonight. Not only to apologize for my behavior the other evening, but also because we’ve never had a proper date to get to know one another. I’d like to amend that.”
Layla’s brows rose. Her beast shifted inside her in a slow roll of heat. “Why?”
“Why?” Adrian seemed undone a moment, confused. “Didn’t I just explain why?”
“I mean, if you can’t be straight with me Adrian, thenthis,” she gestured between them, “is already over. I don’t care how much my body reacts to you. I don’t care how much I feel this incredible pull around you. If you can’t tell me the truth about yourself or the Twilight Realm, if you can’t trust me, or eventell me where you arefor two whole weeks, then we have nothing more to say to each other.”
She saw it smite him; right where it hurt. He might have been a Royal Dragon and a billionaire with the world at his fingertips, but in many ways he was just a man. Her pronouncement, not quite a rejection but a deep challenge, hit him hard and Adrian pursed his beautiful lips, blowing out through them as he blinked. Behind her, fetching something from a drawer for his guests, Layla heard Dusk give a soft chuckle.
“You really don’t mince words, do you?” Adrian spoke softly, a pained expression in his beautiful eyes.
